The Boy Who Lived
by starbuckx
Summary: Harry struggles with the aftermath of Voldemort's defeat. Ties in with The View from Azkaban.


**Story title: The Boy Who Lived **

**Part 2/3**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned them, I really do. But, I'm just a 19 year old law student who loves Harry Potter. I own nothing but my dog, so if you sue me, you'll get the poor old thing, and probably nothing else. No infringement is intended, and I am not making any money out of this. **

It's quiet in here, so very quiet.

I used to love being alone, in silence. When I was little, silence meant Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were asleep, and I could get up and wander around the house without anyone yelling at me. It meant Dudley wouldn't try to punch me as soon as I got out of the cupboard, and it meant I wouldn't have to run and hide. I could just walk around, quietly, like a normal boy.

As I grew up, silence became less frequent. I had friends now, wonderful friends, who rarely left me alone. But I still treasured the silence, and the quiet moments spent besides those I truly loved, Ron, Hermione, Sirius …and Ginny.

We never had the chance to talk, Ginny and I. But sometimes, I reckoned that silent afternoons spent sitting side by side, hands clasped together as we stared at the lake, were enough to convey my feelings for her. There was, after all, no need to talk. Not yet, at least.

I am not so sure of that, right now. Fear held me back then, and I, the boy who loved silence so much became, unwillingly, a prisoner of it, unable to break out and say what I was really feeling.

And then everything was black, and I was stranded here. Wherever here is. All I know is that it's dark, and cold, and silent. The silence is my only companion here, and on days like this I wish with all I have left for someone to come in and break it. 

I don't even talk anymore. My voice sounds foreign to my own ears, and frankly I've become tired of hearing myself. At nights, when I close my eyes, I will see and hear Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall and wake up hoping to hear someone breaking the silence, and getting me out of here.

But it never happens. The days go by, and the silence seems to grow thicker and thicker until it engulfs me almost causing me to stop breathing. My only companion, besides the voices in my head and my dreams. Dreams …of dead people.

It didn't take long to work out that Dumbledore was dead. I had seen the flash of light, and even if the hope that he could have survived never left me, deep down I knew he was dead. Professor McGonagall, on the other hand, that was a big shock. I remember her battered and beaten, but still standing, when the world went black and silent around me.

But they visit me every night, both of them. And as much as it hurts to know that these two people who taught me so much and gave up everything for the world to have a second chance at peace are gone, every night when I see them in my dreams, I give a small prayer of thanks to whoever is listening for the fact that they are alone.

Because that means everyone else is alive.

My thoughts go to Ginny first, but I am sure she's all right, at least. She was standing close to me, her eyes alive and her smile bright just before Voldemort's curse hit me, and I was engulfed in darkness and silence. 

Ron and Hermione were kneeling not so far away from Ginny and me, holding onto each other, and the knowledge that if I am to stay trapped in here, at least my best friends in the world have each other and they will be happy together is enough make me hold out hope for the world outside.

But, then my thoughts run to Remus and Sirius, and it's almost as if someone took all the air from my lungs, and left me feeling battered, beaten and hopeless. Because, I am almost sure Sirius is dead.

He was lying down, his eyes bright and his mouth quirked in a smile as he tried to talk lightly about his condition, but his face betrayed the pain he was feeling, and I could see understanding in Remus' grey eyes. Understanding, and a pain so profound I didn't think I could ever feel anything like it. His voice was broken as he tried to talk, and his eyes were filled with tears as he chided Sirius for being so foolish. He wasn't worth dying for he said. Sirius should have stayed away, and saved himself. But Sirius was shaking his head, and clasping Remus' hand, and the look that passed between them was filled with the kind love that many people talk about, but few understand.

And, that was the last I saw of them.

Now there's nothing but the memories of them, the people I loved, and who loved me. Nothing more than silence, and too much time to think about them.

Sometimes, my thoughts turn to other people. Neville, for example, one of Voldemort's first victims. My heart contracts at the thought that he would never get to understand how important his sacrifice had been in the end. How without him we would have never defeated Voldemort. How each and every sacrifice counted.

Those are sad thoughts. Through it all, a rather happy one still remains, and amazingly enough it concerns Professor Snape.

He's probably a hero now, one of the biggest heroes of the war against Voldemort, for he was the one to reveal Voldemort's location and his plans. He was the one, who spied on Voldemort for so long, at the risk of his life. He was the one who, in the end, made it all possible.

And now he's out there, being glorified by everyone while I am here, slowly going mad, and I can't help the surge of bitterness that threatens to consume me. I was, after all, Voldemort's deadly enemy, and it wouldn't have made sense for the curse to target anyone else. Still it burns, that in the moment Voldemort vanished for good, so did I, hidden from the world by an ancient curse few people know about. 

It's almost like being buried alive. 

Except that when you are buried, people have a place to visit you, and mourn, and pay their respects. I'm alive, and yet, it will be easy for everyone to forget me, for it's almost as if I never existed.

_I'm the Boy who Lived._

Except, of course, that I won't live in people's memories for too long.

My eyes close as despair fills me, and just like that, I can see Ginny's ethereal figure walking towards me. No, I want to yell out. Not you, Ginny. You can't come here, only the dead come to visit me. Not you, Ginny. It can't be you, I couldn't bear it.

But she keeps walking towards me, her arms outstretched, beckoning me, and I take a few hesitant steps before finding myself in her arms, surrounded by her glow, her scent, her strength, and I feel like I'm falling, deep into a precipice and I can't do anything about it.

My last conscious thought is that she'll catch me.

**

Epilogue

**

****

The silence that had been my companion for so long has been replaced by voices, many voices, all telling me things, asking me things, and for a moment if feels like my head is going to explode from all the noise. The information is too much, and so I just lay there, my eyes closed, trying to understand what happened.

I was saved, saved from the curse.

Someone found me. And the silence was broken. There is laughter, and tears around me. Odd noises reach my ears, and I struggle to identify them, not really caring if I do. And voices, the voices of the people I love float around me, and I can't help out but let out tears of joy as I open my eyes and let light and noise in once again.

I am not alone anymore, and not silent now. Ron and Hermione are beaming at me from their spot besides my bed, their smiles brighter than anything I've ever seen and their hands clasped together. Remus is smiling softly, too, his grey eyes full of tears, like the last time I saw them, but this time, I am ready to believe they are tears of happiness as his eyes travel back to Sirius, snoring softly on the bed besides me, blissfully unaware of the many people invading the room, but amazingly alive, and getting better.

There's a small part of me wanting to grieve for Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, but as I look around me, my hearts tells me that they would have wanted me to enjoy this moment, and take care of a few things first. I'll have plenty of time to mourn later. Now, it's time to right a few wrongs. 

Ginny first, and then Professor Snape.

It's time to get that happy ending we've all been wanting.

I know exactly where to start. 

**The End**

_A/N: I am not sure this could really be called the end, since there's a third part coming, from Ginny's POV, the final piece to this trilogy I am sure you all thought I was never going to write. I blame Elle, from disappearing from my life. She's back now, so I figured without someone to blame, I would have to start writing. This one is for you, my MIA sister. You have no idea how much I've missed you._

_Any R/S references you may find are unintentional, and I blame Margot for them. I really didn't mean to. And, a through explanation of what exactly happened to Harry is coming up in Ginny's POV of everything. It's vague for a reason, you know. *winks*_


End file.
